-= MajorMUD News =- 	


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Moderated by:                                             Published by:
Shannon Stewart & Jeff Hinds                            METROPOLIS Inc.
[email protected]                                      www.majormud.com

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March 28, 2001                                                Issue # I
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Recommend a friend & be entered to WIN $10,000 and a Sony DVD Player!
http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=855441
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= C O N T E N T S =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=Welcome to MajorMUD News

-=Latest Version Updates

-=Tips for Beginners

-=Fun Stuff!
    - Contest - Mud Trivia
    - Players Who Suit Muds by Richard Bartle

-=WorldGroup News 


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Welcome to MajorMUD News!


Welcome to the first edition of MajorMUD News, the electronic e-zine 
for the world's most popular text based fantasy game. 

We've put this newsletter together to effectively communicate MajorMUD 
news and information surrounding new module releases patches, technical
support, player tips and strategies for beginning players to experienced
players.

Shannon Stewart, Sysop and Lead Developer for Metropolis states, 
"My hope is this newsletter will benefit the entire MajorMUD community
by providing official update announcements, great tips for newbies from
seasoned players, and a means for all the registered owners to share 
what they have to offer with Mudders who are looking for a home." 


Here at Metropolis BBS systems we have survived the dot.com gloom and 
doom of 2000 much to the success of the addicting MajorMUD-Realm of 
Legends. When asked in the MajorMUD Message Forum: "What is it that 
keeps you playing a text based game with updates so few and far between?"
Player with the screen name Galen Tarot answered, "The people. The fact
that some areas I've yet to visit in my 6 years of playing mmud." 

Many players say that the one aspect that makes Major Mud so popular is 
its camaraderie in the community; making friends, socializing, building 
relationships and learning the strategies. Major Mud players are 
generally persons who are high achievers, explorers and sportsman.

This newsletter is our way of making the MajorMUD community stronger, 
continue building relationships, and enhancing our presence in the 
competitive gaming industry. 

Thank you for your enthusiasm and continued support of MajorMUD and
the Metropolis BBS Systems.  


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Latest Version Updates =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Module 9 is still in development at this stage. We feel this will be
our best module to date, with several side quests, as well as a new
installment to the ever-popular alignment quests. This module will
be geared for levels 45+. Module 9 will be the second of a three part
storyline dealing with a meddlesome dark mage, his ultimate goal, and
a prelude to the final confrontation that will take place.

Exp fix - A Beta Version of the exp fix that will be included with the
Module 9 update, is now available to registered owners on a need-to-have
basis.  If your system has multiple characters that can no longer gain exp
as a result, please contact Shannon at[email protected] and we can see
about getting it to you if you meet those requirements.


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TIPS FOR BEGINNERS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


1. Do not be afraid to ask questions. You are called a "newbie" for a 
   reason: you are new and do not know.

2. Contrary to popular belief, questions ARE answered in the scripting 
   forum.

3. Contrary to popular belief, the people in the mud forums will answer 
   your question and are usually nice.

4. If you do not know how to play the game, start with something SIMPLE, 
   on a non-PvP board, so you don't have to worry about being killed, 
   you can just learn the game.

5. Do not script until you actually know your way around the game.

6. Once you have learned the "hack-and-slash" approach, try magic. Go 
   on to a magic-3 class (priest, mage, druid) so you can understand what 
   it's like to rely on mana and spells rather than hit points and
   critical hits.

7. ASK QUESTIONS! People are usually more than willing to answer!

8. Draka's Blade, manastone, great spiked club, starhammer, deathcoil,
   Indiana Jones Hat, black runed shovel, and a lot of others I haven't 
   mentioned, ARE NOT IN THE GAME!	

If you have any more questions, the people here are great. I am more
than willing to answer questions as well.
[email protected] 
Genkaku47 via AIM
53945222 via ICQ



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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= FUN STUFF =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

MajorMUD TRIVIA CONTEST


1. What special ability was the golden belt once rumored to do?

2. What is the Guildmaster's name?

3. What should you do with a summoning bone?

4. What does Dhelvanen give you in exchange for 50 black diamonds?

5. What happened to Thrag's tooth?

Is that your final answer? :)


Submit answers to [email protected].  The first 10 winners to respond 
with the correct answers will receive a prize!

Prizes are: 1st place - 1 year's free subscription to www.80s.com 
                        or www.spacepirate.com. 
            2nd-5th place - 1 month's free subscription to www.80s.com 
                            or www.spacepirate.com.  
            6th-10th place - a free 80's Server mousepad.

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*Players Who Suit Muds by Richard Bartle

HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT MUDS

Richard Bartle[1]
MUSE Ltd, Colchester, Essex.
United Kingdom.
[email protected]

-=ABSTRACT
Four approaches to playing MUDs are identified and described. These 
approaches may arise from the inter-relationship of two dimensions of 
playing style: action versus interaction, and world-oriented versus 
player-oriented. An account of the dynamics of player populations is 
given in terms of these dimensions, with particular attention to how 
to promote balance or equilibrium. This analysis also offers an 
explanation for the labeling of MUDs as being either "social" or 
"gamelike".

-=PREFACE

Most MUDs can trace their lineage directly back to Trubshaw's 1978 game
(Bartle, 1990b; Burka, 1995) and, perhaps because of this heritage, the
vast majority are regarded as "games" by their "players". For the 
convenience of its readers, this paper continues to view MUDs in this 
tradition; however, it should be noted that MUDs can be of considerable 
value in non-game (ie. "serious") applications (Bruckman, 1994a; Kort, 
1991; Bruckman & Resnick, 1993; Curtis & Nichols, 1993; Evard, 1993;
Fanderclai, 1995; Riner & Clodius, 1995; Moock, 1996). Indeed, the 
thrust of this paper emphasises those factors which should be borne 
in mind when attempting to create a stable MUD in general, whatever 
the application; it is only the terminology which is that of "fun" 
MUDs, not the subject matter. In any case, even those MUDs which are 
built, from the ground up, to be absolutely straight are still treated 
by users as if they were games in some respects, eg. by choosing 
whimsical names rather than using their real ones (Roush, 1993). 

It is worthwhile considering for a moment whether MUDs (as they are 
generally played) really are games, or whether they're something else. 
People have many recreational activities available to them, and perhaps 
MUDs fit some other category better? Looking up the word "game" in a 
dictionary of synonyms (Urdang & Manser, 1980) elicits three related 
nouns: "pastime", "sport" and "entertainment" (a fourth, "amusement", 
is the general class of which the others are all examples). So it might 
be useful to ask: 

Are MUDs 
* games? Like chess, tennis, AD&D? 
* pastimes? Like reading, gardening, cooking?
* sports? Like huntin', shootin', fishin'? 
* entertainments? Like nightclubs, TV, concerts?

Read the entire article http://www.majormud.com/pwsm.html


-------------------------- SPONSOR MESSAGE ---------------------------

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-------------------------- SPONSOR MESSAGE ---------------------------



The News from Worldgroupware

Greetings MajorMUD Sysops! The folks at Metropolis have asked me to
give you all some information on what's happening now and what we will
be doing in the future as far as Worldgroup is concerned.

First off, if you haven't heard yet, we've signed an agreement with 
NetVillage that lets us develop and distribute Worldgroup. What this 
means to you is that somebody is finally going to start paying some 
attention to the Sysop community again, and that Worldgroup, add-ons, 
and tech support will be available again. With all that is going on 
over here, I could write a book - but I'll try to keep it as brief 
as possible and cover the changes we are making to the system, as 
well as some availability, pricing, and tech support issues. 

The biggest changes you will see are in the way Worldgroup is bundled.
Worldgroup is effectively being split into multiple products, each 
geared for a particular audience. The Worldgroup Personal Server is 
designed for the hobbyist / sysop, and will retain the bulk of the
Worldgroup 3.20 baseline for compatibility with MajorMUD and a 
variety of other "classic" add-ons.

The Worldgroup Enterprise Edition is designed more as a business 
solution, and incorporates changes that make it easy to connect
Worldgroup to ODBC sources and provide web-based database services.
Both the Personal Server and the Enterprise Edition are getting an 
updated web interface with new pages from our Worldgroup Power Pack
add-on, which also incorporates an 'a-html text variables' feature 
for quick updating of web pages system-wide.

When it becomes available, we will begin shipping our Ad Server add-on 
module with the Worldgroup Personal Server. This module allows you to 
connect your Worldgroup system to a central server and provide for 
banner ads in the various Worldgroup services. The Ad Server system
will only be seen by your web-based users, and we are designing it 
as a "co-op" system that will generate benefits for the Sysops that
run it. For further information and updates on this system, check the 
Worldgroupware site. 


-=WORLDGROUP AVAILABILITY. 

At present, we are shipping Worldgroup 3.20 along with the Worldgroup 
Power Pack. Worldgroup 3.12 and all earlier versions of Worldgroup are
no longer available. Line count upgrades are available for both 
Worldgroup 3.20 and 3.12 at present, and we hope to make line count
upgrades available for Worldgroup 2.0 systems in the near future. 
Add-ons and other upgrades to your system will also be available 
(see our site for the latest offerings).


-=WORLDGROUP PRICING.

Worldgroup Personal Server starts at $249 for the 8-User version, 
$499 for the 16-User version, and $999 for the 32-User version. Line 
count upgrades are $200 / 6-pack, $250 / 8-pack, and $300 / 10-pack for 
both Worldgroup 3.20 and 3.12 (and for 2.0 when available). The Worldgroup 
Power Pack is available for current Worldgroup 3.20 users for $300.
For pricing on the Worldgroup Enterprise Edition, and other add-ons, 
go to www.worldgroupware.com 


-=WORLDGROUP TECH SUPPORT.

We are still in the process of moving all of the tech support faqs,
file libraries, and forums from the old Galacticomm Demo System over
to the Worldgroupware site. At present, the FAQs are loaded into the
Powerbase demo on our system, and are fully searchable. Updates and 
patches for Worldgroup 3.20 are available on our system, and the files
for older Worldgroup versions will be made available as soon as possible.
We will leave the Demo System up until we get all the files off, and
you can telnet into it at 64.36.117.172 for access to the older 
Worldgroup and MajorBBS files. 

Tech support will be done via email to [email protected] -  email
support is available for Worldgroup 3.20, the Worldgroup Personal Server, 
and the Worldgroup Enterprise Edition. Support for all earlier versions
of Worldgroup will be done via the forums and file libraries. 


-=WORLDLINK.

Worldlink is back. The Worldlink server can be reached at 64.36.117.171
-- we are currently testing the new worldlink server, so feel free to 
connect to it as much as you like. 

We want to hear from you! Send us your questions, comments, Worldgroup 
wish lists, or just come on by and introduce yourself and tell us about
your Worldgroup system. 

Don Barr 
[email protected]

Worldgroupware.com
P.O. Box 1241 
Laurel, MD 20725-1241
(301) 850-9019 Voice 
(301) 850-0486 Fax


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Inside the next issue:

-=Registered BBS List

-=MajorMUD E-mail

-=Module 9 Update

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Copyright 1996-2001 All Right Reserved. [email protected] 
Metropolis Inc. 8650 College Blvd. Overland Park, KS 66210